The Carpet Merchant by Jean-Léon Gérôme

The Carpet Merchant by Jean-Léon Gérôme (France, 1824-1904)

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History

A 3,200 year-old painted scene of a lion and a gazelle playing a board game, probably senet.

From an ancient Egyptian illustrated papyrus showing animals taking on human roles in comic situations where they act against their natural instincts.

📷 British Museum… pic.twitter.com/3gb8s7CAp6

— Alison Fisk (@AlisonFisk) April 2, 2026

 

An Insight

“The old churches of England are the story of England. They alone remain islands of calm in the seething roar of what we now call civilisation. They are not backwaters… but strongholds.”

Sir John Betjeman pic.twitter.com/soqb9YivJZ

— Mark W. (@DurhamWASP) April 4, 2026

 

I see wonderful things

After a journey lasting 9 years, 5 months, and 27 days, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft completed a flyby of Pluto, sending back these remarkable images. pic.twitter.com/1aDRhjrXyY

— aka (@akafaceUS) April 4, 2026

 

Offbeat Humor

People went to Bluesky for a one-sided safe space but now they’re discovering that the radical version of their own censoriousness is causing it to collapse. https://t.co/pniO5lmdgl

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) April 4, 2026

 

Data Talks

Empathy is good

But fraudsters and embezzlers have hijacked our empathy

$81k/yr per homeless person
$52k/yr per capita income

This is insanity and is clearly untenable. https://t.co/LNC6VU1TCK pic.twitter.com/EYaQrdo7eZ

— Arthur MacWaters (@ArthurMacwaters) April 4, 2026

 

You can’t verify what a stranger believes. You can observe what he sacrifices.

From The Economics of Religion by Roland Fryer.  The subheading is Faiths thrive when they demand more of their participants—and so do their broader societies.

Market structure is one of several features of religion that resist easy explanation. Why does religion persist despite asking so much—time, money, behavioral constraint, belief in claims that resist verification? Why does the market fragment rather than consolidate? And what exactly does religion produce? The answers have something to say about American society.

[snip]

In the church I grew up in, people didn’t only show up for doctrine. They showed up with needs. A man might ask for help with his electricity bill. A woman would ask for wisdom in dealing with a prodigal son. The church provided more than belief. It provided mutual insurance: a network of people who, in moments of need, would show up for one another.

Such systems have a familiar problem: free-riding. If the benefits of membership are available at low cost, people have an incentive to take without contributing. Over time, the system breaks down. The mutual aid degrades. The community hollows out. This isn’t unique to religion—it afflicts any organization that produces collective goods. But religion, across traditions and centuries, has converged on a remarkably consistent solution: make participation costly.

This is the central insight of Laurence Iannaccone, whose paper “Sacrifice and Stigma” (1992) reframed how social scientists think about religious behavior. The demands religion places on its members aren’t barriers to participation. They are the mechanism by which participation becomes valuable.

Muslims fast during Ramadan. Observant Jews set aside the Sabbath. Latter-day Saints tithe and serve missions. Christians gather, give and organize their lives around shared rituals like Easter. The details differ. The economics don’t.

When participation requires visible sacrifice—time, money, behavioral constraint—commitment becomes observable. And observable commitment solves a deep problem of trust. In a community built on mutual aid, you can’t verify what a stranger believes. You can observe what he sacrifices. The person who shows up every week and gives regularly has demonstrated something about his willingness to contribute. That demonstration is the glue that holds the community together.

Atlas and the Hesperides by John Singer Sargent

Atlas and the Hesperides by John Singer Sargent (America, 1856-1925)

  

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History

A rare but restored tinted photo of the Crown Prince Hirohito, visiting London in May 1921. He was aged 20. Five years later he would be sitting on the Chrysanthemum Throne. 昭和天皇 # ShōwaTennō pic.twitter.com/DnIb1EZtwk

— G M Thomas FRSA FRAS (@japanauthor) April 4, 2026

 

An Insight

Lawrence Durrell, remarking the "unfailing sense of continuity" found all around the Mediterranean during the Easter Season — "This feeling is even stronger in an Orthodox church, because the Greek language of the service vibrates like the wind in the Aeolian harp of the mind." pic.twitter.com/aUKZua1TFt

— Durrell Society (@DurrellSociety) April 3, 2026